Hardware·18,997 discussions

crashed HDD, cant recognize

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my laptop crashed and i pulled the HDD out and connected via usb to my new laptop, but im getting nothing.

it registers as a usb disk drive in device manager, but nothing in “my copmuter” in disk manager, it shows as disk 1, but syas it needs to be initialized, but when i try that it says “device not ready”.

in diskpart, it shows as disk 1, but when i try to create a primary partition, it says “device not ready”.

im just looking for other possibilities on how to fix it. i know, at this point, its kind of a long shot unless im willing to fork out money to have it professionally fixed, which im not.

thanks, yall

usb HDD is hitachi travelstar

laptop is running Windows 7

usb connector has external power supply

Topic

Clarifications

In reply to crashed HDD, cant recognize

Clarifications

What was used to format this HDD originally?

In reply to crashed HDD, cant recognize

That may be a key to your issue here as with the added Security introduced in Windows Vista quite a few NTFS Drives could not be read with the Vista and newer OS’s.

If you can try this drive connected to a XP System it may actually work. I don’t however think that it will work when you are running 7 in XP Mode but if you have the Virtual PC Option it may work if you load XP Virtually.

Also if this is a IDE or PATA Drive you may need to fit a Jumper to the Header Strip to set it to Master. Quite a few of the Hitachi Drives that I have seen in NB’s in the past needed this jumper fitted to actually work. If it has a Jumper fitted try removing it as the USB Interface whatever this is may not require this to jumper be present. So if it has a Jumper try removing it and if it doesn’t have a Jumper Fitted try fitting one. 😉

Col

re:

In reply to What was used to format this HDD originally?

this was just a pulled hdd, so i didnt format it initially…to be honest, i dont think ive tried it on an xp machine, yet, just on a couple of vista and windows 7 machines

it def doesnt work in xp mode, as you said; it has issues attaching the usb drive and recognizing it…

i didnt know this laptop hdd used jumpers…itsa a SATA, so what pins does it fit over?

just wondering.

In reply to re:

did the OS crash or did the drive die? Those are two totally different things…

If its shot, I would try placing it in a anti static bag, throw it in a freezer for a day, then quickly hook it up and grab all your data before it heats up… This is an old IT trick, it works every now and then, maybe 15% of the time.

When SATA just came out, the pins were more common, now I don’t see them as much… if they are there, there might be 4 or only 2 pins… all the way to the left or all the way to the right..

Tried that once, it gave enough time to get mydocs and desktop..

In reply to just wondering.

..this has been around a while. (seems every year the number grows)

http://www.hddrecovery.com.au/PDF/200ways.pdf

freezer

In reply to Tried that once, it gave enough time to get mydocs and desktop..

ill try the freezer eventually, but this drive is already spinning well…i can feel it…sint the freezer thing only supposed to get it spinning again?

No.

In reply to freezer

If it weren’t spinning up, the freezer would do absolutely no good.

It is to keep the drive electronics cool enough so they might work well enough to read the data on the platters.

As this is a SATA Drive

In reply to re:

There are no jumpers to set or remove. 😉

Also if you try the Freezing Trick I have in the past used Dry Ice on a Frozen Drive to keep it cold enough to get the data off it. These things get very hot very quickly so you need to keep them cool/cold as long as possible.

Col

Well, there’s always “have you tried viewing it with Live Linux?”

In reply to crashed HDD, cant recognize

..someone may end up saying it anyway..
http://www.livecdlist.com/

I can’t wait to get Knoppix 6.3 (it’s been held back from Linux torrents by them dang euro-techies).

http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/CeBIT-2010-Knoppix-6-3-CeBIT-Edition-released-944460.html

freezer thing

In reply to crashed HDD, cant recognize

ok, i guess ill bite the bullet and give the freeer a try…how does it work? just put it in a dry ziploc bag for a few hours and plug it in and then windows should recognize the hdd instead of not recognizing it?

Don’t forget

In reply to freezer thing

Your, Hail Mary.

Well supposedly the reasoning is

In reply to freezer thing

That the Cold causes things to shrink and stops the electronics overheating and failing.

Can’t say that I ever totally believed that reason but on occasions it does work. The down side is that it’s a Last Resort and you are unlikely to be able to use the drive ever again if it does work so you need to get it really cold and build in reserves of Cold to stop it dieing when it gets hot enough to stop working.

Hence I used some Dry Ice over a Dyeing HDD to keep it cold enough to get the data off it once. I have had drives heat up while cold and just stop working so that’s it.

But if you have not yet tested this on a XP System to see if it’s a Formatting Issue you can as suggested above use a Live Linux to Boot From in your 7 System and read the data off the external Drive onto either the Internal Drive or a USB Storage Device.

You can get a Live Linux which runs off the CD from your Local News Agent as a Cover Disc on a Linux Mag or download from here

http://www.livecdlist.com/

There are lots to chose from but my personal favorite is Knoppix which really is a [b]Must Have[/b] in any Tech’s Tool Box.

Col

knoppix

In reply to Well supposedly the reasoning is

i have only minor knowledge and little experience witrh knoppix, though i do have boot cds to use…what are the commands to use once in the knoppix command prompt (i forget what its called in knoppix)?

Prevailing view: Linux is all CLI. No.

In reply to knoppix

Just use gparted as root.

Toss in a couple of silica gel packs.

In reply to freezer thing

As the temperature drops, any moisture in air will begin to condense. You need the silica gel to absorb it, or else the condensation will freeze and expand and then you’re really screwed.

And yes, I know this is now a zombie, but I wanted to get this appended in case someone else needs to try it.

linux live system recovery

In reply to crashed HDD, cant recognize

Try piggy-backing to a live linux system (I use Ubuntu) or use a linux boot disk live enviroment. Linux can see mucked up partitions long after Windows and Mac loose them, as long as the partition still exists.
From there, you should be able to recover the data onto another drive.

Before you put it in the freezer…

In reply to crashed HDD, cant recognize

Get hold of another similar drive (same make and model) and unscrew the plastic controller plate. Get hold of the new drive and do the same (make sure you do not mix the two controller plates up). Now fix the new controller plate to your old drive and then connect it.
Hopefully you should now be able to pull off the data. When finished, replace the controller plate back to your new drive.
Check also your SATA cable(s) or try new ones just in case.

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